HOBOKEN, N.J. -- The National Science Foundation's Cyber Trust Program has awarded Stevens Professor K.P. (Suba) Subbalakshmi a grant to further her research on wireless network security, in particular, the fundamental trade-offs in wireless security, power consumption and error-resilient encryption code design. Subbalakshmi, an Assistant Professor in Stevens' Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is researching concepts from algebraic coding theory, cryptography, renewal/reward theory and stochastic modeling, among other areas, that will address these trade-offs in areas such as the design of error-correcting encryption systems, wireless link status and battery-power adaptive encryption. The practical aspects of her research include implementing and testing the theoretical results in battery-power constrained devices, which will have a profound effect on low-power wireless technology for secure communications.
Security in wireless networks is challenging due to unique environmental problems such as high-variable error rates in the links, limited bandwidth and the finite battery power of the end devices. The traditional solutions to these problems – encryption and error correction –compete for the same resources and if not designed well, can work at cross-purposes to each other.
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Established in 1870, Stevens offers baccalaureate, masters and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science, management and technology management, as well as a baccalaureate in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has enrollments of approximately 1,800 undergraduates and 2,700 graduate students. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.